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Thursday, September 11, 2008

FRUITS NOW IN SEASON AT MANILA'S STREETS

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38 Comments:

OMG! I never thought i could ever miss atis, langka, saba and santol. My goodness.. i used to just ignore them. Now, I would gladly exchange all my apples, grapes, blueberries and strawberries for a santol!

We visited Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Thailand couple of years ago & there we're able to savor once again the Pilipino fruits we have been missing, plus Durian! They also have kasoy, which I care more for the fruit than the nut! Thais are very creative they used the juice as cocktail mix.

Talking to these orchard, fruit owners producers, preservers & exporters... most of them studied & graduated in the Philippines, specially University of Manila!!!

Hi! Sorry for not visiting your blog for a while. Been extremely busy preparing for my first solo art show at the end of this month. Its not too late late to be ambitious. When I saw your wonderful fruit photos, I couldn't help but leave a comment. I missedthe atis most of all. Many of those fruits are now available here in California, but the fresh atis is not.

I forgot what they're called; never tasted one, but the sinegwelas are in season sometime in June, I think, Photo Cache. Sinegwelas, it seems are plentiful in the Manila markets at the same time with duhat.

"Talking to these orchard, fruit owners producers, preservers & exporters, most of them studied & graduated in the Philippines, specially University of Manila!!!"

These are Thais who studied in Manila, most of them between 1968 - 1974. They studied food & fruit preservation, canning (specially coconut milk), even fish sauce making, & business. Most of these successful businessmen were funded by their government to study & start their business. And look how much dollars in return the country is getting from their export, just here in the states alone!

"Thailand are humongous. Jeezz .. is there a nuclear reactor over there that makes this fruit grow that large? Hehehe."

No Eric, they don't use nuclear, as far as I know. I saw them use "compose," elephant & bat manure, they have millions of them in this country! I guess also their elephant shape country have something to do why their fruits are abundant, sweet & humongous, like you said. Half of Thailand is a peninsula, so they have their east & west sides fertile deltas. While on the north like Chiang Mai is cool. I know a lot of people are crazy about Thai food, but I not!!! Most of their food are with coconut milk & curry, so during our stay I lost a lot of weight. But had my feast in Macao where food is a blend of Portuguese and Chinese, then Hongkong!

An American, a Russian and a Pinoy were hanging out and bragging about their country's pride.

The American said: "We have cars, delicious fruits and beautiful women in the states!"

The Russian blurts and said: "You can put all your cars, women and fruits together and you can shove it up my ass! and that silenced the Yankee.

It was now the turn of the Russian to brag and said: "We have brave men, Nuclear weapons, Vodka, and years of culture behind us" and then he turns to the Pinoy and asked: "What about you my little friend! What have you in your island nation to brag about? The Pinoy, stumped and nervous, hesitantly said: "...Us? wi hab beri-beri gud proot dat we call LANGKA! Tangnamo! lit mi si ep yu kan shob dat ap yur ass!

Langka: We used to coat oil around our lips and hands before digging in to the Langka fruit to avoid dealing with the stubborn sticky sap that comes with the fruit and then gather all the seeds to boil and eat after.

You know it's just a few months away from the holidays when Quiapo teems with a variety of fruits and the famous Castanas and the abundance of chinese hams hanging on the display glass windows of the Quiapo meat stores.

Life in Manila as observed by a former New Yorker who with a laptop and camera has reinvented himself as a storyteller. Winner of the PHILIPPINE BLOG AWARDS: Best Photo Blog in 2007 and three Best Single Post awards in 2008.